hatchettwit
This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and even today I'm impressed that a movie a year older than myself was done this well. It really is just the way Alice in Wonderland should be! Fantastical, wonderful, confusing, dark, bright, crazy, and beautiful yet realistic ish XD They had a lovely cast too, couldn't believe Ringo Star was the Turtle. Sammy Davis Jr too! Some characters grow close to your heart, others freak you out, and the jaberwocky is creepy as it should be. I love that it has dark undertones and Alice is constantly fluctuating between good and bad and logical and confusing. I really love that it makes her face her fears right on. The lack of cgi also astounds me, they did a marvelous job with what little manipulation they did have. I really miss movies like this. Just lovely! A true classic.
Armand
a lovely film. for the impressive cast, for the music, for the mixture of fear and fascination, for the lead actress, for the preservation of book 's spirit who does it the wise measure. the adventure, the meetings, the joy, the moral lesson are parts from a splendid show about childhood and fundamental details of life. more than an adaptation, a delight, despite not high level special effects. because Alice is the child who grow-up, because the solutions for different characters are interesting, because Red Queen and White Queen are source of special moments. a film for inside children. that is the difference by other adaptations. and the secret for admire and enjoy by this seductive film.
TheLittleSongbird
Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are classic stories, oddball and fairly difficult to adapt but colourful and quite magical. As a child my favourite adaptations were this and the Disney film(the first one I saw), and re-watching this 2-part version again it still is a favourite. It's not perfect, not all the casting(a vast majority do) and songs(maligned but not that bad, more hit and miss) work, and while the faithfulness to the stories is very admirable and pays off very well often some scenes can drag as a result of being a little too faithful.The sets are very colourful and designed lovingly, with a mix of eeriness when down the rabbit hole and sumptuous colour with the Flower Garden. If there was a choice between in the Alice in Wonderland half and the Through the Looking Glass half, marginal preferences would go to Through the Looking Glass, the visuals are more vivid and the characters a little kookier. Some of the more memorable performances of the whole adaptation are in Through the Looking Glass too, and the pacing is a little more secure. The costumes are rather weird- Cheshire Cat, Bill the Lizard, the Oysters and Dodo Bird were among the worst cases. But the ones for Alice, White Knight, Red Queen and Queen of Hearts are very appropriate and there is a soft spot for White Rabbit's too. The atmosphere is a great mix of eerie, oddball, funny, whimsical and colourful.And the dialogue is clever, faithful in spirit to the story, some of it is literally lifted out of the pages of the book(s). You do wish that the Mock Turtle's melancholic poem was left intact though. In regard to the story, it is mostly very well-adapted though a bit draggy in spots. Of individual scenes, faring best are the Mad Hatter tea party, the train scene, the Old Father William musical number, the trial, Jam Tomorrow, Jam Yesterday, the touching We Are Dancing and Emotions numbers and of course the first appearance of the Jabberwocky(as a child that was terrifying, and even to a 21-year old it was scary). The ending is also a tear-jerker. Some scenes didn't fare so well, I don't remember a single thing about the scene with the Mouse, Dodo and Lory Bird, the Caterpillar scene would have fared better with the whole thing about the mushrooms(it did seem a little pointless), the Lion and the Unicron scene is awkwardly staged and Ernest Borgnine seemed ill at ease and the Walrus and the Carpenter number is fun but suffers from cheap costuming.Which brings us onto the songs and casting. The background scoring and orchestrations are excellent and beautifully done, the Overtures over the opening credits show real promise and the creepiness and whimsy that pulsates the scoring throughout are used most effectively. The songs have been maligned, and in a way understandably. There are some good ones, though some suffer from being too brief or too samey. The best way to describe the songs are hit-and-miss. The hits were Old Father William(with choreography that seemed to be paying homage to Shirley Temple); There's No Way Home is a beautiful song and sung in a way that is a mix of vocally understated Frank Sinatra and Burl Ives; the very poignant We Ae Dancing with some of the best visuals of the adaptation; the intimidating Off With their Heads and the riotous Jam Tomorrow, Jam Yesterday. There are a few misses though, I Hate Dogs and Cats is probably the most forgettable song in all senses in the entire adaptation; There's Something to Say as well as being quite badly sung is no better; Laugh is rather dull despite Anthony Newley's singing; Lion and the Unicorn is a tad repetitive and Nonsense lacks irony, is not as poignant as Caroll's Mock Turtle poem in the book and is somewhat contradictory too.Most of the acting is fine, but like with the songs some don't work. Shelley Winters, John Stamos and Donald O'Connor are wasted; Donna Mills is competent if unmemorable; Telly Salavas is too sympathetic for Cheshire Cat; Scott Biao performs with no real feeling or understanding of his few lines; Beau Bridges is a somewhat effeminate Unicorn; Ernest Borgnine looked uncomfortable as the Lion and Jonathan Winters is rather dull as Humpty Dumpty. Natalie Gregory however is a very endearing Alice, carrying the adaptation very well and charmingly and with spunk. The cast are like a Who's Who and it's really fun to spot. These were the performers that stood out. Sammy Davis Jnr plays Caterpillar with great personality and firmness and still is a great singer and dancer, the White Rabbit of Red Buttons is suitably jittery, Carol Channing is a riot as the White Queen, Robert Morley's King of Hearts is probably definitive, Lloyd Bridge's White Knight is chivalrous and meaningful, Jayne Meadows is a genuinely intimidating Queen of Hearts and Ann Jillian's Red Queen is performed with real gusto and menace(she also sings Emotions wonderfully).And we also have Ringo Starr's melancholic Mock Turtle, Jack Warden's Wise Owl, Karl Malden's stuffy Walrus, Harvey Korman's imposing White King, Anthony Newley's very funny Mad Hatter, Arte Johnson's nervous Doormouse and Roddy McDowell's twitchy March Hare. In fact, while some like Patrick Duffy, Sally Struthers and Pat Morita are merely cameo appearances, the acting is good enough. Tweedledum and Tweedledee are great fun too, and isn't that Jabberwocky scary or what? Overall, along with Disney's it is one of the best adaptations of the book and is the most faithful to the book(s), Nick Willing's 1999 adaptation is faithful too. 8/10 Bethany Cox
ComedyFan2010
This is an 80's TV adaptation of both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. A story symbolizing the growing up of Alice. I didn't watch this movie as a kid, so I don't have any fond memories. I just watched it as an adult because the cast made me curious (or should I say curiouser and curiouser?) And the cast is definitely impressive. I was especially excited to see Ringo Star as the Mock Turtle. The acting isn't exceptional, but I would think that this is because of the fact that it is a children's movie and they tend to exaggerate acting in those. Natalie Gregory wasn't bad as Alice. For a child performer not very annoying.Special effects are not the best, and in many cases pretty laughable, but one shouldn't forget that it is a TV movie that came out in 1985. Other than that, the decoration is very beautiful and it is all very colourful.It feels a bit too long. Too many songs, sometimes it feels like it drags on and there isn't enough action happening. I feel that great book could have been adapted to be more exciting.All in all it isn't a bad movie. I believe a child would like it even more than I did, and the good part is that as an adult one can enjoy watching it withe them, at least for the first time.
